by Peter C. Earle
The American Institute for Economic Research
In May of 2020 AIER Editorial Director Jeffrey Tucker published an article entitled “The 2006 Origins of the Lockdown Idea.” In it, he chronicled the the way in which
a temporary plan to preserve hospital capacity turn[ed] into two-to-three months of near-universal house arrest … causing worker furloughs … a stoppage of international travel … a 40% job loss among people earning less than $40K per year, devastation of every economic sector, mass confusion and demoralization [and] a complete ignoring of all fundamental rights and liberties, not to mention the mass confiscation of private property with forced closures of millions of businesses[.]
As it turned out, there was a fascinating tale at the root of the disastrous disease mitigation policies put in place to thwart the spread of the novel coronavirus. Elements included: a burger joint meeting, a high school research project, and ultimately a brilliant, storied epidemiologist issuing warnings about the risks of upending social functioning during a pandemic.